Valencia: Race report

Enrique Bernoldi celebrated his 25th birthday in perfect fashion by winning
his first ever Superfund World Series by Nissan race at Valencia. The
Brazilian passed Racing Engineering's Bas Leinders to win a thrilling race
held in difficult wet ...

Enrique Bernoldi celebrated his 25th birthday in perfect fashion by winning
his first ever Superfund World Series by Nissan race at Valencia. The
Brazilian passed Racing Engineering's Bas Leinders to win a thrilling race
held in difficult wet conditions.

It was GD Racing's first ever win and Bernoldi was ecstatic with the result

"In the rain, races are a lottery - everybody has a chance. We had good set-
up for the rain and I was able to push very hard. I had a nice clean fight
with Besson and Leinders. It is a great result for me and the team after
the tough start we had to the season."

Leinders led the race from pole, and had a comfortable advantage of almost
three seconds in the early stages, until his lead was eroded when the
safety car was called out. He held on at the restart, but when Bernoldi
muscled his way by, Leinders was forced wide, allowing Saulinier Racing's
Bruno Besson to take second.

Besson said: "I made a good start and was fourth at the first corner. I
drove carefully and made up places when others went off the track. When the
races are wet we are ok, it's in the dry we have a problem, but I am very
happy to be on the podium."

Series champion Franck Montagny went off twice in the wet, but fought back
to pass Leinders late on for another podium finish, just ahead of Ander
Vilarino, who took advantage of Leinder's tyre troubles to take fourth.

Vilariño started on pole for race two and as in Barcelona, he made great
use of this to quickly establish an early lead. Felix Porteiro (KTR) made a
great getaway to take second, ahead of Vilarino's team-mate Ravier.

Ravier lost ground with a spin, but Vilarino was in a class of his own up
at the front. The first driver to pit was Team Carlin's Narain Karthikeyan
and this moved him into an eventual second place, as he lapped quickly on
new tyres, gaining place after place as those in front made their mandatory
stops, but it was not enough to stop Vilarino taking his second win.

Nevertheless, Vilariño took a penalty of 20 seconds for not respecting the
pit stop procedure as he pited in Lap 19, and Kartikheyan exceeded the
speed in the pit lane and did not respect a stop and go.

Polo Villaamil achieve his first victory in the Series, leaving second
place for an unexpected Felix Porteiro and third position for Ravier.
However, Trevor Carlin has declared that the team will appeal.

Montagny did not start the race due to a lack of available mileage on his
engine but he managed to score some points in Race 1 as Kovalainen, and
give the Teams Title to Gabord Competition.

WORLD SERIES LIGHTS

Juan Cruz Alvarez extended his championship lead with two excellent wins in
the World Series Lights races at Valencia. In race one the Argentinean made
a great start from pole position in tricky damp conditions and was never
headed. Alvarez was pushed hard in the opening stages by Pablo Donoso, who
made a fantastic start to take second going from sixth on the grid.

The lead pair held their positions through to the end of the race, but
behind them there was chaos as conditions deteriorated. Alvaro Barba
stalled on the grid, Epsilon by Graff's Julien Vidot and Meycom Reyco's
Celso Miquez clashed, leaving Miquez stuck in the gravel.

When Adrian Valles pulled off at the end of the second lap, the field was
reduced to just nine cars. As the rain got heavier, the track became
increasingly slippery. Alvarez mastered the conditions, but others weren't
so lucky. Mathias Lauda (Vergani Racing), Vidot and Ananda Mikola (RC
Motorsport) all spun into retirement.

Milos Pavlovic (Epsilon by Graff) had a trip across the gravel too, but
kept going and finished fourth. Third place went to RC Motorsport's Mateo
Pellegrino. The Italian was the fastest driver on the track in the wettest
conditions, and charged up the order to finish just six seconds behind the
winner at the end. Vergani Racing's Mika Duno was the only other finisher,
coming home fifth, two laps behind. It was her best result of the season.

The second race was even easier for Alvarez, who again led from start to
finish. This time the race was held in the dry and Alvarez shot off the
line, followed closely by Pavlovic. Vidot spun in turn two and this allowed
the leading pair to break away from the chasing pack.

But Pavlovic could not match the pace of the championship leader and had to
settle for second. Pellgrino again took third after a lonely race. The best
fight was for fourth, which eventually fell to Barba after a great late
surge took him past Lauda and Mikola.

Alvarez said: "I'm really happy with this result, because with these points
are very important for me and the team. The races were not a problem for me
as I made a good start in both. It's good to get such a result in a series
as competitive as this."

SPANISH FORMULA JUNIOR

The rain stopped ahead of the Spanish Formula Junior race, but the track
was still very wet, especially off line. This made for another entertaining
contest. Pole sitter Roldan Rodriquez made a great start and looked set to
repeat his victory in Saturday's event.

But the Porfesa Competicion driver would not cap a highly competitive
weekend with a second win. His undoing was the safety car, which was
brought out following a crash between Marco Barba and Fabio Onidi, which
left both cars stranded on the track.

The caution period allowed the pack to catch Rodriquez and as the Spaniard
sought to re-establish his lead he made a small error and ran wide and
briefly over the gravel. He rejoined in fourth and battled back to third,
but he was too far behind Cibiemme Team's Giacomo Ricci, who overtook
Christian Cano at the restart and never looked back once Rodriquez had
gifted him the lead.

Championship leader Juan Antonio del Pino (G-TEC) spun while challenging
Cano for second early on, but fought back strongly and was able to take
advantage of the safety car to work his way back into second and cement his
position at the head of the standings.